Vallejo career academies draw state eye

The Vallejo City Unified School District's career academies could become models of reform for state education.

The district was one of 20 chosen last week by the state Department of Education to pilot "linked learning" programs aimed at bridging academics with real-life professional applications.

The career academies are nothing new in the Vallejo City Unified School District. Vallejo High and Jesse Bethel high schools each have three academies, several of which were transferred from Hogan High School when that school closed.

Vallejo High has the Apache Engineering, the Hospitality and the Biotechnology academies. Bethel has the Green, the Multimedia and the Biomedical Academies.

It has been an initiative of Superintendent Ramona Bishop and the Vallejo school board to develop "wall-to-wall" academies. That is, every high school student will eventually be enrolled in one of the career academies.

"We know a lot of our students still struggle in high school because they don't have a picture of what a career will look like after school. They might view that being an engineer is being in a physics class and doing physics. They can't see that that's just a small part of what an engineer might do," said Cheri Summers, the district's chief academic officer.

Academies in Vallejo start in sophomore year and are often designed to give students hands-on experience. For example, students at Jesse Bethel's Green Academy can sometimes be found collecting items for a compost pile, while students at the Vallejo High Hospitality Academy participate in an annual statewide entrepreneurship simulation.

For now, becoming a linked learning pilot program doesn't automatically mean the district will get new funds. Linked learning is part of an Assembly bill that is so far unfunded.

"When funds become available -- and we think that they will because career tech education is on a lot of people's radar -- we will have priority access to that funding," Summers said.

What the state will do, however, is provide technical assistance and professional development as districts continue to develop their programs.

The district is establishing four more academies: Human and Public Services and International Finance academies at Bethel, and Health and Fitness and Performing Arts academies at Vallejo.

The creation of those academies will mean the district will have a place for every sophomore in the district.

"We will be wall-to-wall in terms of every 10th-grader," Summers said.

The high school academies are also designed to fit in neatly with the district's other initiatives, such as the establishment of magnet schools. For example, the International Business Academy could draw students from the dual language immersion program at Cave Language Academy, while Loma Vista Environmental Sciences Academy could get students ready for any of the science academies at the high schools.